实际流转的物质
Oxidised copper minerals dissolve in sulfuric acid. That means the metal can be leached, extracted and plated into finished cathode at the mine site, and leave the country as a 99.99% product rather than as a concentrate. It is the same metal as the Chilean route and a completely different journey.
- 材料
- Copper
- 品种
- Oxide and mixed copper ore of the Central African Copperbelt
- 起点
- Democratic Republic of the Congo — Kolwezi and the Lualaba copper-cobalt belt
逐步追踪，逐境跨越
Democratic Republic of the Congo · Kolwezi, Lualaba 持有方 Operators with Gécamines as state partner (矿业公司)
A richer orebody than most
Open-pit and underground mining of sediment-hosted ore that runs several times the grade of a typical porphyry.
为何选择此地: The Central African Copperbelt is one of the richest copper provinces on Earth, and it carries cobalt with it.
Democratic Republic of the Congo · Hydrometallurgical plant on site 持有方 Operators (化学品)
Leaching with acid
Crushed ore is leached in sulfuric acid. Copper and cobalt dissolve together into a pregnant leach solution.
其余部分的去向: Acid is trucked in or made on site. In a landlocked country, the reagent supply chain is as hard as the metal one.
为何选择此地: No smelter needed, so no reason to ship the ore anywhere.
Democratic Republic of the Congo · Same plant 持有方 Operators (精炼商)
Solvent extraction and electrowinning
An organic solvent picks the copper selectively out of the solution and releases it into a clean electrolyte; current then plates it onto cathode blanks. Cobalt is precipitated separately as a hydroxide.
为何选择此地: This is the whole point of the route. The finished metal is made at the mine, in the country that owns the orebody.
South Africa · To Durban, Dar es Salaam or Beira 持有方 Hauliers and traders (贸易商)
Two thousand kilometres by road
Cathode is bundled and trucked across one or two borders to a port. Delays at the border are measured in days.
为何选择此地: Being landlocked is the permanent tax on this journey — and it is why the cobalt beside it travels the same road.
China · Wherever it is bought 持有方 Fabricators (制造商)
Straight into the wire market
Cathode from Kolwezi is the same product as cathode from Guixi and trades on the same terms. Nobody downstream can tell which route it took.
为何选择此地: Once it is cathode, copper is copper.
本文为示例演算，以公开的典型产率和回收率对既定起始量逐步推算，各比例可供核验；这不是某批具体货物的记录。路线事实——途经哪些国家、经历哪些工序，以及为何该材料不能在其他地方简单处理——均来源于公开报道。